Choosing Hard Over Easy Can Make Hard Look Easy

​Elliott and I were watching Indiana and Oregon play for a chance to go to the NCAA football national championship last night. Early in the game, I looked at Elliott and said, "Indiana makes all the hard stuff look so easy."

If you're always looking for lessons in life - like I am - you can miss a big one by thinking what looks easy to a team like Indiana has COME easy to the team.

I've watched several Indiana football games this year, and if I had to offer one takeaway from the games I've watched - it's that Indiana does not make mistakes. No false starts. No offsides. No holding on third and long. No panic throws. No sloppy exchanges. And I'm not sure they even know what a fumble is.

It's been a long time since I've seen a college football team look as much like perfection as this team looks. As a big Notre Dame football fan, I've watched a lot of football games living with at least an underlying fear of the next mistake.

Yet, I watch Indiana and get lulled into believing they are immune to mistakes. And after last night, I'm not sure they aren't. But where does that immunity come from - bringing in players who are immune to mistakes?

I think we all know leaning on human perfection to produce perfect outcomes will always be a failed strategy.

Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza gave an answer in a post-game interview last night that I found telling. When asked how they were going to get ready for the national championship game after the big win he said, "We'd love to crack open a couple of beers, but we have to get ready for the national championship."

In other words, he was saying we'd love to do what is fun, but we need to do what is required.

Because here's the thing, what looks like discipline and even perfection on game day is usually boredom in practice. It’s doing the unglamorous things so often - over and over - that they no longer require adrenaline or getting up for.

When you demand and practice perfection, you don't have to ask it to show up in big games - perfection will quietly tag along as the biggest part of your game.

Many of us watch people show up to big games and make big plays that lead to big achievements and we think - these are simply people with the very biggest of big time talent.

And maybe there is some truth in there.

But I think it is truer that what looks big to us - easy even - is often the showcase of talented people who have spent much of their lives doing little things so often that those little things show up on game day as powerful as slings and stones.

It's talented people who are tempted to crack open beers - but instead choose a seemingly less exciting route.

It's too easy to witness an exceptional performance and think it's the product of exceptional people. The reality is, though, we all have the path to exceptional right in front of us - we just many days decide it feels too long and boring to follow.

Some people make hard look easy, and usually, it's because they've spent a lot of time choosing hard over easy.

We will all have similar choices today.

Hard or easy.....